Huizenga Attends Oval Office Signing Ceremony For Trump's First Law Passed By Congress

President Trump gives Rep. Bill Huizenga the pen used today as a gift

 By Brandon Hall
(Email Him At WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com)

Congressman Bill Huizenga was in the Oval Office today, joining President Trump as he signed the first law passed by Congress since he became President. Huizenga sponsored the bill.

Congress passed legislation allowing Secretary of Defense Mad Dog Mattis to be eligible for the post, but it's not a traditional law-just a waiver-and it did not have a signing ceremony....

According to the Detroit News:

"President Donald Trump promised to create jobs as he signed a bill sponsored by west Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga that rolls back a transparency provision of the Dodd-Frank law that overhauled financial regulation after the 2008 financial crisis.

Trump on Tuesday signed legislation eliminating a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that requires oil and gas companies to disclose in detail payments to the U.S. or foreign governments for commercial development.

The bill by Huizenga, the Zeeland Republican, and co-sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, was the first Trump has signed into law since becoming president, except for a waiver allowing retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to serve as defense secretary."

Before signing the bill, President Trump spoke:

"This is a big signing, a very important signing," Trump said.  "And this is H.J. Resolution 41, disapproving the Securities and Exchange Commission's rule on disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers. It's a big deal. And I want to thank Speaker Paul Ryan for being here. He's been tremendous. Jeb Hensarling very, very important and really worked hard. Representative Bill Huizenga and all of the friends -- Peter -- all of my friends are up here. And we really appreciate it.

This is one of many that we've signed, and we have many more left. And we're bringing back jobs big league, we're bringing them back at the plant level; we've bringing them back at the mine level. The energy jobs are coming back. And it's -- you see what's going on with the stock market. They know that we know what we're doing, so it's going up."

Congressman Huizenga then addressed the room:

"So this is the first CRA that has been signed by the President. I'm very pleased to be the author of House Joint Resolution 41. Over 20 years, there's been 56,000 rules that have been put in place with very little legislative input or oversight, and it's time that changed. And I'm very thankful to the President, the Speaker, our Chairman Hensarling for being able to make this happen. And we think this is a good first step. So I'm very pleased. Thank you."

Trump gave Huizenga the pen used to sign the bill as a gift.

"I'll sign it -- we may have to give him the pen. Congratulations. Great job. You've done a fantastic job," Trump said.
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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

>>>Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com
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